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ACES 1.2 from Octane looks washed out and grey in After Effects (whites not matching)

Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:20 pm
by corsac
Hey everyone,

I’m struggling with a color mismatch between OctaneRender and After Effects when working in ACES 1.2. My EXR looks washed out in AE, with dull whites compared to the Octane Live Viewer.

Here are my settings:

OctaneRender 2025.3 (Build 1.7.0) in Cinema 4D 2025.3.3
  • ACES Tone Mapping: Enabled
  • Render settings: HDR Float 32-bit, Color Space = ACEScg
  • Imager OCIO view: ACES : sRGB (so I assume it’s rendering in ACEScg but showing sRGB on my monitor)
  • Live Viewer: OCIO sRGB
  • EXR output: 16-bit
After Effects 2025
  • Color Engine: OCIO Color Managed
  • OCIO Config: ACES 1.2
  • Bit Depth: 16 bpc
  • Working Space: ACEScg (compositing_linear)
  • Display: ACES/sRGB
  • Footage color space: ACEScg
Everything should match, but my AE preview looks wrong. Whites look grey, and it’s definitely not the same as Octane’s Live Viewer.
Did I miss something obvious? Why does AE make the image look washed out even though the settings seem correct?

Here is a link to the exact AE and C4D files I’m using https://www.dropbox.com/t/foZth9jQrp6biJ6I
As well as screenshots of all my settings and results below.

Thanks in advance (this one’s driving me crazy)

Re: ACES 1.2 from Octane looks washed out and grey in After Effects (whites not matching)

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 9:20 pm
by jayroth2020
Hello, have you reviewed this link? It could be helpful...

https://tomwitte.com/blog/aces-settings-for-after-effects

Re: ACES 1.2 from Octane looks washed out and grey in After Effects (whites not matching)

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2025 11:37 am
by ChrisHekman
corsac wrote: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:20 pm Hey everyone,

I’m struggling with a color mismatch between OctaneRender and After Effects when working in ACES 1.2. My EXR looks washed out in AE, with dull whites compared to the Octane Live Viewer.

Here are my settings:

OctaneRender 2025.3 (Build 1.7.0) in Cinema 4D 2025.3.3
  • ACES Tone Mapping: Enabled
  • Render settings: HDR Float 32-bit, Color Space = ACEScg
  • Imager OCIO view: ACES : sRGB (so I assume it’s rendering in ACEScg but showing sRGB on my monitor)
  • Live Viewer: OCIO sRGB
  • EXR output: 16-bit
After Effects 2025
  • Color Engine: OCIO Color Managed
  • OCIO Config: ACES 1.2
  • Bit Depth: 16 bpc
  • Working Space: ACEScg (compositing_linear)
  • Display: ACES/sRGB
  • Footage color space: ACEScg
Everything should match, but my AE preview looks wrong. Whites look grey, and it’s definitely not the same as Octane’s Live Viewer.
Did I miss something obvious? Why does AE make the image look washed out even though the settings seem correct?

Here is a link to the exact AE and C4D files I’m using https://www.dropbox.com/t/foZth9jQrp6biJ6I
As well as screenshots of all my settings and results below.

Thanks in advance (this one’s driving me crazy)
It seems the values are clamped in the EXR?
Are you still encountering this issue?